St. Pete insurance startup picks up 12K Citizens policies

St. Petersburg-based Patriot Select Property and Casualty Insurance Co., which started selling policies earlier this month, has picked up nearly 12,000 homeowners “multi-peril” insurance policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

The policies are spread statewide, with the exception of Monroe County in the Florida Keys, according to a statement. Policyholders in most cases will continue working with their current insurance agent and will be offered a renewal policy directly from Patriot Select, the company adds. 

“This is a proud day for Patriot Select,” Patriot Select CEO John Rollins says in the release. “We’re committed to helping stabilize Florida’s property insurance market while providing outstanding service, meaningful coverage options and strong financial backing for the long term.”

This announcement follows Patriot Select’s recent launch of its homeowners (HO3) insurance product, now available statewide through Florida’s independent insurance agents. In addition to renewing Citizens’ policies, the company is actively accepting new business and agent appointment applications across Florida.

Citizens, created as the state-run insurer of last resort, has seen the number of its policies skyrocket in recent years as insurance firms fled the state. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, along with legislative reforms, have led to the number of policies Citizen has in force to drop considerably: as of April 30, Citizens had 809,904 policies. That’s down 31.8% from 1.18 million policies April 30, 2024 and down 36.3% from 1.27 million policies April 30, 2023.